Convert Now

July 28, 2008

There will be irritated viewers come Feb. 17, 2009, when the screens of many rabbit-eared TV sets will look like blizzards hit them. Fortunately, relatively few of them will be in Greater Hartford and New Haven.

That's the day of the "digital TV transition," when broadcasters stop sending analog signals over the air on the orders of the Federal Communications Commission.

Most households - 85 to 90 percent nationwide and even higher percentages in Connecticut - will be fine. Viewers with cable or satellite service don't have to worry. Neither do viewers with newer digital TVs or with analog sets that have converter boxes (more on that below).

But some people aren't getting with the program; many aren't even tuned in. Consumer groups are complaining, with reason, that the federal government isn't doing enough to prepare viewers for the change.

An estimated 10 million households - 9.4 percent nationwide - are "completely unready" for the switch, according to Nielsen Media Research - including many low-income, elderly, Hispanic and African American viewers who bought their sets before 1998, who don't have cable or satellite service, or who rely on an antenna for reception.

Connecticut looks, in comparison, very 21st-century. Hartford/New Haven-area households were the best-prepared among 56 metropolitan areas that Nielsen looked at in April. Only 3.1 percent were "completely unready" here, compared with 18.3 percent in Milwaukee and 17.3 percent in otherwise hip Portland, Ore.

For those who have remained true to their rabbit-eared TVs all these years, the government is offering $40 coupons to defray the cost of a converter box. (Boxes can cost $40 to $70 each without the discount.)

The coupon can be ordered at www.dtv2009.gov or on the 24-hour toll-free hot line 1-888-DTV-2009.

The FCC is making TV stations go all-digital - including Connecticut stations WTXX-TV and WTIC, owned by Courant parent Tribune Corp. - to free up space on the airwaves for other uses, including better emergency communications among police and firefighters. Digital signals take up less bandwidth than analog signals.

The upside is that digital picture quality is super-sharp - not a ghostly snowstorm.